Step 3 - The Community Meeting

The third step involves planning and holding a community meeting and speaking with representatives from other community partners. During this step your planning team from Step 2 consults with local police to determine a geographical area, identify relevant NHWQ roles and invite all of the residents to a community meeting to gauge the support for NHWQ from the neighbourhood.

Again, this invitation should be personal and clearly articulate the specific community safety issues that have been identified and the anticipated outcomes. Also invited to this community meeting should be your local police and representatives from your council and other key government and community groups.

This meeting will take approximately two hours and will be coordinated by both the police and the planning team. It is important that all persons in the proposed NHWQ area are invited to attend this meeting. You may wish to place advertisements in local community newspapers and/or speak to your District Crime Prevention Coordinator (DCPC) about promoting the meeting in the electronic district based crime bulletin.

At the meeting, NHWQ will be fully explained by the DCPC. Other speakers may include other local police, a sponsor's representative and the Area Coordinator for an existing NHWQ group.

If the planning team and local police decide that adequate support from the community has been obtained, then a NHWQ area coordinator must be elected at the community meeting (by simply taking nominations and voting).

Adequate support may include, but is not limited to, a sufficient number of people attending the community meeting who reside or own businesses within the geographical area of the proposed NHWQ area (no specific number or percentage required).

If the planning team and local police decide that the community meeting has not attracted sufficient numbers, a group may still decide to proceed if they feel adequate support has been reached through community involvement in steps 1 and 2. That support may include a number of people who have expressed a desire to actively support the NHWQ group through volunteering, but have been unable to attend the community meeting.

The NHWQ area coordinator is responsible for overseeing the NHWQ area. Whilst the duties are essentially a coordinating role, they also assist in gathering information for the area newsletter, and arranging for the distribution of official printed and electronic material and information.

A secretary and at least one other volunteer position must also be elected at the community meeting. The amount of volunteer positions a NHWQ group has can be determined by the planning team and local police prior to the community meeting.

Other important considerations that need to be discussed prior to and resolved at the community meeting include:

• Do you need an assistant co-ordinator?
• Do you need to appoint a treasurer?
• Who will take the minutes and/or action items from the meetings?
• How will you fund NHWQ activities (e.g. local supporters, grants etc)?
• How will you cover the costs of running a NHWQ group (e.g. newsletters, meetings)?
• How will you communicate with members (e.g. email, telephone)?
• Will you produce newsletters? If so, how often and who will draft them?
• How often will you meet and where?
• Will you have an official launch?
• How will you promote the new NHWQ group to the community?

It is important to remember that all NHWQ groups have a lifetime and it is recommended that every 12 months a NHWQ group evaluates their performance during that time. This evaluation process may be as simple as holding an end of year social celebration or meeting more formally with your key stakeholders (police, local council, local businesses) to review your outcomes and to develop a plan for the next 12 months.